Do I Need Lots of Cores or a Faster CPU Clock Speed?

[robak99]

Hello,

I am thinking about upgrade my computer. What is more needed to work faster? Cores or Clock Speed? I would like to know if Power BI works on multiple or single cores. I don't know what to look for when buying a processor. I know that I need a lot of and fast RAM.

For now I thinking about Ryzen 5 2600. 

[robak99]

My datasets isn't really large. I even enter the data into Excel and then load it in Power BI, because my file has 50 rows and 20 columns so far. I think the maximum can be 1000 rows, not more. Honestly, I don't mean fast data loading. I'd like to quickly move in Power BI Desktop, for example moving charts, create measures etc. Sometimes I have 6 pages in one report and I would like to move around them quickly.

[TomMartens]

Hey @robak99 ,

based on your requirements, basically every modern machine is sufficient. As you load your data from Excel I consider a fast SSD and 16GB of RAM sufficient.

As. I already mentioned, I'm more familiar with Intel processors than with the Ryzen's. From you description I would consider an I5 sufficient. A Ryzen 5000 will suit your needs.

Regards,

Tom

[robak99]

I think so too. First, I want 16 GB RAM, I'll upgrade it to 32 GB later. Thanks for the help 🙂

[TomMartens · Accepted solution]

Hey @robak99 ,

it depends a little what you are going to do in general, there might be some Power BI datasets that are able to leverage multiple cores, and then there are a Power Query queries that run faster due to fast clock speed.

This article describes how the Formula Engine and Storage Engine worK: https://www.sqlbi.com/articles/formula-engine-and-storage-engine-in-dax/

This article describes how to to scale a machine for running SSAS Tabular: https://www.sqlbi.com/whitepapers/using-tabular-models-in-a-large-scale-commercial-solution/#:~:text...

Personally I use thinkpads that do not come with Ryzen, at least not the ones that I use. Two of my thinkpads use an i7-10 and 11th generation with most of the cores, one thinkpad is equipped with an i9 9th generation. The occasions are rare tht the i9 is still faster then the i7 11th.

I'm not that familiar with comparing Ryzen with Intel, but next to that, you need a fast SSD to load large pbix files faster.

Personally, I would prefer clockspeed over number of cores, as my machines only server one master 😂

Hopefully, this helps to make up your mind.

Regards,

Tom